STUDYING EGGS 251 



I have never yet been able to prove that these hatched 

 less well than the more normal shells. Some hens have 

 a habit of laying such eggs, and some breeds, or 

 strains even, produce so many that it seems to have be- 

 come almost a fixed habit with them. One year, I 

 bought several sittings of eggs for hatching at five dol- 

 lars per sitting, of which nearly every egg in the lot 

 showed this characteristic, though otherwise hard and 

 glossy. The smooth, good-sized, glossy egg is the ideal 

 — two ounces being considered the minimum below 

 which eggs should not fall in weight. As to the shape, 

 we have coined a word "ovoid," which makes the egg 

 shape a distinctive term used to enlighten students in 

 other lines of work. To define " ovoid " itself, other 

 than to say it means egg shaped, is not so easy — Web- 

 ster's Dictionary does not even attempt it, probably be- 

 cause it is supposed that all know what "egg shaped " 

 is. Yet the variations in shape of eggs are endless, be- 

 tween the bounds of the near circle and the long ellipse. 

 The real " ovoid " shape is large at one end, and gradu- 

 ally narrowing to the other end, which is, in a good 

 specimen, about one half as thick as the broader end. 



Although an egg with some natural gloss is the most 

 beautiful egg known, there is an appearance which must 

 also be described as glossy, which does not belong to a 

 fresh egg. This is when the egg has been incubated, 

 under a hen, for some time ; but this is a different gloss. 

 The egg feels unnaturally smooth, and has not ths/res/i 

 bloom of a glossy new-laid egg. 



There are very many hens which never lay glossy 

 eggs. This, too, I think, becomes in many instances a 

 matter of strain — certain strains of Brown Leghorns, 



